@Nilitch:
So, last year when every week he was describing how painful his back was, it was just a lie ?
Pretty much. Given his track record going back to YuYu Hakusho, what he has said in countless interviews where he himself has said that he's super lazy, what he says in his intro pages about his time management (I'm 200 hours into Dragon Quest 9 and I'm only level 7!) how some printed chapters have been literally just rough outline scribbles, what you can see about his attention span when he draws a super ornate turkey on a page surrounded by stick figures, and how many years it took them to give any sort of excuse for his breaks? That his breaks never have any actual scheduled start or stop? And the shade that other creators unofficially say about him. Yeah. It's bs.
He could work on his book at his own pace throughout the year and release it in scheduled "he're 10 chapters!" chunks when it's ready ad they could say up front when they announce its coming back "for ten chapters!".
Instead he just gets to it when he feels like it about once a year, sometimes after two years, does really well for a couple weeks, then gets sloppy around week 6, takes a week of around week 7, and then gives up again a couple weeks later. The fact that we don't know how long this return will be? Will it be 7 weeks? 9 weeks? 11? 20?
He may have legit back problems sure, and that really super impedes his ability to work, fine.
And he's in his 50's, so he can't work like he once did. Fine!
He's been a successful creator and deserves to take it easier! Absolutely fine and legit.
He wants to spend more time with his family and children. No problem at all, he's earned it.
Keep having assistants do all his work, switch him to a monthly schedule, release the story in script form, or just reach a logical stopping point and actually stop until he can really go again with a sequel series. Whatever, there are dozens and dozens of options available to accommodate any legit health issues. (and most arguments about him needing to draw it all himself went out the window once he switched to assistants.) There are ways to draw that don't involve being hunched over a desk. He could work in bed or on a tablet or standing up. Or he could just have actually ENDED to the story after he had Gon and Gin meet up like the anime did, if it was going to be a clear problem for years to come. (And again, there's waaaay too much stuff on record that points to "lazy" and "spiteful" rather than "in pain." Like how he ended YYH to spite his editor.)
But even if he does have these problems, even if it's 100% legit that he has these issues and can only produce exactly what he produced?
Health problems don't excuse the complete lack of professionalism or courtesy to his audience.
Just say up front "I'm still having back problems. Here's 10 chapters I've produced this year. I'll try to do more soon!" and just saying that upfront would be pro. We'd accept that just fine and go "it sure is great he's still trying so hard for his fans."
Just the tiniest bit of professional assessment, scheduling and courtesy would go so far. And if we get any more than that? It's an unexpected gravy bonus.
Instead of the constant dance of "I'm here again and I sweeear I'll try to do better this time! Honest this time I'll go the distance!" followed by complaining about how tired he is on week 2 and then "Nope, guess that's too much, I'm done."
As is? It seems like the back issues are something the company made up after his FIFTH extended break to excuse the nonsense and then the next time around he started milking the excuse immediately.
You can hunt backwards through the thread if you want more details or discussion on it. But basically, there is zero reason for a professional to string along his audience for over a decade in the manner he's been doing it. (the series has been on hiatus more than it's been printed.) If it absolutely must be this schedule now and forever, there are ways to be a professional about it.